Letters to the editor: Death by government

Regarding “An easy fix:” Marie Cunha writes in support of a former Supreme Court justice’s suggestion that the Second Amendment could be fixed “if” only it were to be rewritten. I feel Ms. Cunha needs to be introduced to the term “democide,” death by government. Over the years the governments in Russia, Germany, Japan, Cambodia and China have killed tens of millions of people. The list goes on. These governments will all agree that gun control works. It is my opinion that the militia referred to in the Second Amendment consists of myself, my neighbors, the people in my community and even Ms. Cunha if the situation deemed it necessary.

I don’t understand people’s faith that these atrocities could never happen here. Perhaps it’s the thoughtful wording of the Second Amendment that has prevented this.

Thankfully, Ms. Kunha’s premise is based on that huge word “if.” My father often used the adage that “A frog would not bump his butt each time he tried to fly ‘if’ he only had wings.” As I’ve grown older I find it much easier to see the wisdom in a lot of things.

Keith A. Poot

Dade City

Security of a free state

Marie Cunha agrees with retired Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens’ recommendation that five words should be added to the Second Amendment, making the amendment read, “A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms when serving in the Militia shall not be infringed.” Disregarding her cheap shot at the NRA — which, by the way, did not write any part of the U.S. Constitution — I suggest that if the Second Amendment should be reworded, instead of adding five words, that the first four words be deleted so that the Amendment would read:

“Being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms shall not be infringed.”

Lester E. Scates

Plant City

Gift from brilliant men

When the Founders codified and adopted the Bill of Rights they encoded into law those rights that were presumed to be basic. They thought them so important that they wanted no government ever to be able to deny them — as European governments often had. They purposely used language the common man and voter could easily understand.

The 2008 Supreme Court ruling in District of Columbia v. Heller resoundingly affirmed that gun ownership was “a pre-existing right” and that the amendment codified it “unconnected with service in a militia.” It did, however, state the right was not “unlimited” regarding types of weapons, purpose and manner of carry, etc.

Honest debate and common-sense gun laws are needed, but neutralizing a constitutional right that stands to protect all our other rights invites tyranny by an overreaching big government.

The Second Amendment is not a poorly worded, hasty afterthought — it is a gift from brilliant men of great foresight.

Marshall Adams

Tampa

Legalize raw milk

A Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report on raw milk shows how much in bed they are with the milk industry, as they cherry-pick facts and ignore others.

Even the CDC’s own data shows very few cases of illness each year, even though 9 million people drink raw milk.

The real reason we started pasturing milk was not the inherent danger but because of unsanitary conditions.

Raw milk should be legalized. More people each year get sick from eating oysters.

I drink raw milk from time to time when I can get it. I have never gotten sick from it, but I’ve gotten sick a few times from raw oysters.

David Hardingham

Tampa

We are public educators

Thank goodness Will Weatherford’s mission to vilify and rob teachers of a decent pension is dead by a bipartisan vote.

Linda Edson has perfectly outlined the epic battle our state government has waged against teachers (“Stormy time for Florida teachers,” Letter of the Day, May 1).

In Pasco County, which supposedly is represented by Weatherford, a former student who graduated from a school where I taught, teachers have been denied raises and been subjected to one humiliation after another, until Gov. Rick Scott finally threw us a bone last year.

We will never recover the lost wages due to the financial strangling of Pasco and Florida public schools in general in the ongoing war against public education.

We deserve better. We deserve respect. We deserve better salaries. We deserve a solid pension plan. We are public educators.

And now they continue to press for vouchers for private schools, which offer no accountability and are not “graded.” They certainly don’t respect hard-working public educators. That is sinfully, painfully and shamefully obvious.

Indeed, when will all this end?

It’s about time that Florida’s public educators were given their due respect and decent salary increases.

After a long run in the Tampa Tribune sports department, Joe Henderson now shares his thoughts on the people and places that make up daily life in our city.

Tom Jackson

Tom Jackson’s baseball card — if he had one — would report he throws left, writes right. In his columns and blog, “The Right Stuff,” southpaw Jackson provides insight into the evolving human condition from a distinctly conservative point of view.Column | Blog